Jeremy Hyman didn’t know what to expect in terms of academics when he entered college as a freshman. Like so many others before and after him, he worried about whether he would take the right classes, how the professors would be, and whether he would get good grades. Now he’s the one telling students what to expect.
Hyman had his fair share of problems learning how to earn good grades in college. In one class during his freshman year at the University of Michigan, Hyman had a professor who handed out an assignment that directed students to answer a question in a six- to eight-page essay. When a student asked for more detailed instructions, the professor simply restated the initial directions, leaving the class with little understanding of how to approach the assignment.
Hyman decided then that if he ever became a university professor, he would be sure to make his expectations and grading method clear and precise.
Four decades later, Hyman is a UCLA alumnus who has taught at UCLA, MIT, Princeton and the University of Arkansas. Along with his wife Lynn Jacobs, Hyman is co-author of “Professors’ Guide to Getting Good Grades in College,” which will be published in July.
The book is their way of letting students in on the mystifying code of grading and professors’ expectations.
“Professors often believe ‘this is college; students are supposed to figure it out for themselves,’” Hyman said. “So the professors oftentimes don’t give enough explanation for grading.”
Some professors Hyman interviewed for his book choose not to speak about grading in courses for a number of reasons: Competition is already high and there is no reason to add to that; focusing on grades detracts from real learning; if students know what professors expect, they may play the system.
In response, Hyman contended that grades are the currency of college, and since professors are the ones making up the system, they should not worry about students using it to their advantage.
“You’re not going to stop those who will be competitive from being competitive, so professors might as well let students in on what they exactly expect from their student to get As,” Hyman said. “A student only interested in getting an A may end up becoming interested in the subject.”
Kim Kowsky is a UCLA alumna who is well familiar with the other side of Hyman’s book. Kowsky, who once took an introductory philosophy class with Hyman as her teaching assistant, made some common mistakes when she first arrived.
“I took too many classes. I took things that were too hard in areas that I hadn’t studied before,” Kowsky said. “That was a disaster for me. I got lost in the system, and I ended up withdrawing. I wasn’t emotionally up to it.”
Kowsky took six months off before returning to a more successful undergraduate career, eventually graduating with college and departmental honors.
Although many students like Kowsky learn how to get good grades by the time they reach upper division courses, by then, their GPAs leave little room for change. Hyman’s book emphasizes the importance of getting a strong start.
Many students think that since they got good grades in high school and good SAT scores, college will be the same. But a study by the University of California system showed that SAT scores accounted for less than 14 percent of the variance in GPA, making them unreliable in predicting college grades.
Inevitably, many students find that college is not the cakewalk that high school was. Many students blow off the first few weeks of class because grades are often based on work from the last few weeks: tests, papers, projects and presentations. But students often miss crucial concepts, Hyman said, which affects their work later on.
“(In high school), a student goes to all the classes, does all the homework, and expects to get a good grade in the class,” said Hyman. “In college, the product is more important.”